Another Do-Nothing “Safe Storage” Ordinance In New York

Albany joined other New York cities like Buffalo, Rochester and the Big Apple this week by enacting a gun storage law that requires both ammunition and firearms to be locked up when not­—presumably—in actual use. It adds an unfunded government mandate to the silliness, with a requirement that retailers who sell firearms notify buyers of the statute as well.

We have no objection whatsoever to safe storage, but codification is a routinely terrible idea: Such laws simply cannot take into account all eventualities, and compliance essentially guarantees that a firearm needed in a hurry will never be available. Such laws are intended to ensnare and punish otherwise law-abiding citizens.

If the Albany Common Council was truly serious about “cut(ting) down on gun-related deaths,” they might have troubled themselves to be educated about what actually works, but doesn’t leave New Yorkers defenseless.